Lighting-fixture.



F. W. WAKEFIELD.

LIGHTING FIXTURE.

APPLIOATION FILED DEC. 9, 1912.

1,125,608, Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

@igim 1 A \A lrNassEr'b INVENTf R,

AT T ENEY- UNTTE STATES PATENT OFTCE.

FREDERICK VT. VVAKFEIELD, OF VER-IVIILION, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE F. W. WAKE FIELD BRASS COMPANY, OF VERMILION, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

LIGHTING-FIXTURE.

menses.

Specification of Letters 'Patent.

Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

Application filed September 9, 1912. Serial No. 719,288.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it lmown that I, FREDERICK W. WAKE- FIELD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Vermilion, county of Erie, and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lighting-Fixtures, of which the following .is a specification, the principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

The present invention relates generally to lighting fixtures, and among its principal objects is the provision of a fixture which may be provided by the dealer, after the fixture has left the factory, with a selected number of arms, and in which the electric wires are subject to only a minimum amount of abrasion. It has been found that if the wire is bent in a fixture at a sharp edge, the fixture is objected to by the insurance underwriters because of the liability of the insulation being worn through and thus rendering a short circuit probable.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related objects, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

The annexed drawing and the following description set forth in detail certain mechanism embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one of the various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing :F igure 1 is a broken side elevation, partly in section of the improved fixture; Fig. 2 is a section on the line A-A in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of a fixture arm; Fig. 4 is a top plan View of the arm shown in Fig. 3, before the final operation is performed, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified fixture arm.

The fixture includes two parallel plates 1 and 2 which are secured together by any suitable means, such as screws 3. The upper plate is provided with a plurality of pairs of spaced lugs 4 depending therefrom, while the top and bottom plates are provided with threaded openings 5 and 6 respectively, in which may be secured a suspending stem and a pendant stem. Surrounding the parallel plates is a casing which is preferably formed of a plurality of similar sheet metal plates 7 which are secured by suitable screws to the lugs 4, and these plates are provided with openings 8 between the two plates 1 and 2. One or more arms 9 have their ends inserted through the openings 8 and between the plates 1 and 2, and are secured in position by the clamping action of the two plates, though an additional security is added by extending the screw 3 through the end of the arm The dealer may build up the fixture with any desired number of arms within limits, as circumstances may require, and openings 8 which are not used by securing arms therein are covered by sheet metal plates 10 which are secured with the plates 7, and by the same screws, to the plates 1 and 2.

It will, of course, be understood that the body may be of any desired ornamental shape instead of square, and that the casing formed by the plates 7 may be continuous instead of sectional and of any desired ornamental form, and that the plates 10 may also be of any desired ornamental form.

The arms 9 are preferably formed of sheet metal, but are necessarily hollow, the outer end of the arm being preferably covered by a sheet metal ornamental plate 11 secured to the arm by a nipple 12 adapted to receive a lamp socket. The wires to the lamp socket extend through the nipple 12 and the arm 9 and through the open inner end of the arm and may be connected with the lead wires either within the body or beyond the body, in which case they will extend out through the opening 5 or 6.

In Figs. 1 to 4: of the drawing, the arm is shown as square in cross section, but no matter what the sectional shape of the arm, it will be observed that at the inner end of the arm the wire would be subject to abrasion at the sharp edge of the sheet metal forming the arm, unless some provision be made for avoiding such abrasion. I have provided for eliminating all danger of such abrasion by rounding off interiorly the edge at the inner end of the arm, or, in other words, by convexly forming the interior surface of the arm adjacent its inner end, as at 13. The arm, which is rectangular in section is, in the process of manufacture, provided with longitudinal incisions adjacent its inner end, as at 14, and the sides of the arm between the adjacent incisions are then formed to provide the interior convex sur-,,

faces. It will be understood that the arm may be of any desired cross sectional shape, and in Fig. 5 is shown an arm 15, round in section, and formed at its end with the interior convex surface 16.

After the fixture has been assembled with the desired number of arms, it may be easily wired, and the wires as they extend through the open inner end of the arms lie against the convex inner surface so that all liability of abrasion of the wires at the ends of the sheet metal arms is eliminated, and there is provided a complete fixture which may be assembled with a variable number of arms, and in which there is no danger of short circuiting, so that the fixture will meet with the approval of the insurance underwriters. Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by the following In a lighting fixture, the combination of two substantially parallel plates spaced from each other; a sheet metal casing laterally inclosing the plates and provided with an aperture; a hollow sheet metal'arm rectangular in cross-section, having its inner end extending through said aperture and between said plates,each of the four sides of said arm being separated from the adjacent sides at its inner end, the separated portions of the sides being longitudinally curved to present convex inner surfaces; and means for clamping the plates together. Signed by me this 6th day of September, 1912.

FREDERICK W. WAKEFIELD.

Attested by ALBERT C. HOFRICHTER, GERALD L. BASIL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G. 

